How to Hire a Web Developer (and When to Outsource Instead)
Last updated . Outside rates were checked October 1, 2026. Wages, rules and DeskTeam360's details were checked September 25, 2026.
This site is run by DeskTeam360, which offers a flat monthly team as an alternative to a hire.
To hire a web developer, list the web work you need done, decide between an employee, a contractor or an outside team, check skills and live work, and test your top pick on a small paid task. Plan for more than the wage: in Florida, a computer programmer at the median wage costs $100,539.27 a year with employer taxes, before benefits. If you don't have a full-time person's worth of steady web work, outsourcing may fit better than a hire.
This page is a plain reading of the rules. It isn't legal or tax advice.
How do you hire a web developer?
Start with the work, then pick how you'll pay, find people, check them, and test them.
- List the web work. Write down every web job from the last few months: fixes, landing pages, redesigns, store work, funnels and upkeep.
- Decide: employee, contractor or team. The IRS sorts employees from contractors by control and independence, in three groups: behavioral, financial, and the type of relationship. Florida weighs control over how the work is done most of all.
- Write the post. Name the platforms, the kinds of tasks, and how much work there is each week.
- Look in the right places. See the list below.
- Check skills and live work. Use the skills list and the interview questions below.
- Pay for a small test task with a clear finish line.
- Put ownership in writing before any work starts. See who owns the work.
- Keep the accounts in your name, and give each person their own login.
What skills should a web developer have?
The right skills depend on your work list. Check for these:
- Your platforms. WordPress, WooCommerce, React or other CMSs, landing page and funnel tools such as GoHighLevel. These are the kinds of web work agencies hand off.
- Front end. HTML, CSS and JavaScript, so pages look right and work on phones.
- Back end. The server side of your platform, for example PHP for WordPress, plus databases.
- Version control. Git or a similar tool, so changes can be tracked and undone.
- Speed basics. Google's targets are main content within 2.5 seconds, responsiveness under 200 milliseconds, and layout shift under 0.1. A good developer knows how to test for them.
- Safe habits. Backups before changes, a test copy for big updates, and care with logins.
- Clear communication. Questions up front, updates without chasing, and plain answers.
For WordPress-only skills, see how to hire a WordPress developer.
What should you ask a web developer before hiring?
Ask questions that make them show real work. These eight cover the steps above:
- Can you show me two live sites and tell me exactly which parts you built?
- Which platforms have you worked on most in the last year?
- How do you test a change before it goes live?
- How do you handle backups and a broken update?
- How do you keep track of changes to the code?
- How do you handle my clients' logins?
- Will you sign an agreement that says I own the work?
- How do you tell me when a job will take longer than planned?
Clear, specific answers to 1, 6 and 7 matter most.
If you'd rather talk through whether a hire or a team fits your agency, you can book a call with DeskTeam360.
The button opens DeskTeam360's Book a Call page.
Where can you hire a web developer?
Here are six places to look. The author of this guide hired help on Upwork, Fiverr, OnlineJobs.ph and agency directories before starting DeskTeam360.
- Freelance marketplaces, such as Upwork and Fiverr
- Hiring sites, such as OnlineJobs.ph
- Agency directories
- Referrals from other agency owners
- Outside shops that charge per project, by the hour or for a dedicated team
- A team on a flat monthly rate, such as DeskTeam360
For one developer who works only on your account, see how to hire a dedicated developer.
How much does it cost to hire a web developer?
A full-time hire costs a salary plus employer taxes, and benefits on top. The median wage for US web developers was $92,650 a year in 2025, or $44.54 an hour. BLS doesn't publish a Florida web developer wage, so the Florida figure here uses computer programmers, the closest Florida job: $100,539.27 a year with employer taxes, before benefits. At the US median, the same job costs $108,111.84, plus that state's unemployment tax.
Paying by the hour is the other way. Freelance web developers on Upwork typically charge $15 to $50 an hour, and ZipRecruiter puts the US average for freelance web developers at about $45.12 an hour (October 2026). For more on hourly pricing, see web developer hourly rates. Every line of the hire math, plus benefits, is on the full cost of a web hire page.
Should you hire in-house or outsource development?
Hire in-house when you have steady, full-time web work and want one person on your payroll. Outsource when the work comes in waves, or when you need more skills than one person has. Outsourcing gives a business skills it hasn't built in-house.
| One hire | A flat monthly team | |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | One full-time employee | A team working on 1, 2 or 3 tasks at a time |
| What you pay | Salary, employer taxes and benefits | At DeskTeam360: $1,497, $2,994 or $4,491 a month |
| Who checks the work | You | At DeskTeam360, a North American account manager |
| Commitment | You're the employer | At DeskTeam360, month to month |
One hire and one plan aren't the same amount of work, so compare them against your own task list.
Zach Schuenke's agency, Convert on Command, shows the outsourcing side. Zach did all the client work himself and was the bottleneck, so the agency could take on only 2 clients a week. With DeskTeam360 doing design, funnels and websites, each project took 8 fewer hours of his time. The agency now takes on 4 clients a week on average and is making an extra $160k a month.
A hire also comes with employer rules. The first-hire rules for Florida employers are on the hire or outsource page.
More on hiring developers
A call with DeskTeam360 is a way to compare a hire with a flat monthly team against your own work list.
The button opens DeskTeam360's Book a Call page, where you pick a time.
Sources
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages: Web Developers
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages: Computer Programmers
- IRS, Topic 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates
- IRS, Topic 759, Form 940, federal unemployment tax
- Florida Department of Revenue, reemployment tax
- Florida Department of Revenue, employee or independent contractor
- IRS, Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee?
- Google Search Central, Core Web Vitals
- Upwork, web developer cost
- ZipRecruiter, freelance web developer salary
- Codeable, outsource web development
- Devox Software, outsource web development
- DeskTeam360, home page (deskteam360.com)
- DeskTeam360, About page (deskteam360.com)
- DeskTeam360, web design and development (deskteam360.com)
- DeskTeam360 case study: Convert on Command (deskteam360.com/case-studies)
All checked October 1, 2026. Wages, tax rules and DeskTeam360's pages were checked September 25, 2026. This site isn't connected to the State of Florida, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the IRS or any other government agency.
What changed
- October 1, 2026: First version of this page.
- October 1, 2026: Added the skills to look for, interview questions, freelance hourly rates and a client example. Florida first-hire rules now link to the hire or outsource page.